Archive for the ‘House’ Category

In a composition of volumes and plans, the building fits between openings and closings, respecting the functional needs of the family and the natural characteristics of the surroundings. The main functions of the house are concentrated on a single plan, providing a single floor house aspect, sharing abundant lighting and ventilation integrated by a central pool. The upper and lower floor contain spaces of sporadic and private use.

The owners of this 11-foot-wide row house in Brooklyn were faced with a conundrum that many young families in New York eventually confront: the possibility of sacrificing location for space. After living in the house for eight years, the pair – an architect and jewelry designer – chose to expand in order to make room for their two growing children and remain in the Brooklyn neighborhood they had come to admire. The original 2-story, 1000SF home was completely gutted and extended to 4 levels by adding a bedroom suite above and digging a new urban mudroom below. The narrowness of the house required the design to make effective yet frugal use of space; every inch was important. Precise positioning of walls, doors, and windows was crucial as each floor was planned to serve a purpose. The lowest level serves as a new entry, storage, laundry, and mechanical area; the first floor is a continuous public space with living, dining, kitchen, and library opening to gardens in the front and back; the second contains two kids’ bedrooms along with a 2-sink bathroom; while the topmost level holds the master suite with a sleeping area, bathroom, balcony, and terrace. A slender steel stair repositioned on the south side party wall connects the house vertically and draws more light, air, and views into the building. Materials throughout the home are modest, natural, and unassuming: the rawness of unfinished steel and character-grade walnut is juxtaposed with the simple refinement of honed Carrara marble and matte ceramic hex tiles. The result is a home that is not just larger, but livelier – filled with the possibility to do more and stay longer in a city that requires its residents to be resourceful.

Looking at this project, it is indeed the sensations we experience that leave their mark as we think, walk and live through it.

This project was clearly inspired by the place, a piece of land surrounded by chestnut trees, incredibly ripped into the mountain, flanked by a stream that flows down the hillside and a magnificent open view of the other side of the valley perfectly nestled into the natural landscape.

It was this bucolic scenario that led to an enterprise that had no intention of imposing itself on the surrounding nature, but rather blending, hiding and transforming with it. It gave rise to the “Cloaked House” concept.

Situated at the confluence of two well traveled local streets, having a close adjacency to the constant drone of the 405 Freeway, and with captivating views of the Getty Center and the surrounding mountains, the design for this 3750 sf home places an emphasis on presenting the site’s distinct views, while also providing the desired visual and aural privacy.

There is an overwhelming need for affordable and culturally appropriate housing within the Navajo Nation, more than a small non-profit design-organization can meaningfully contribute to on its own. With this problem in mind our designers sought to develop a flexible housing prototype that could be easily built by would-be native homeowners. The concept of “sweat equity” is one in which the client uses their own labor, rather than cash, as a form of contribution in the building process. This design, in collaboration with the Dennehotso Sweat Equity Project, creates opportunities to more directly address the issues of homelessness across the Navajo Nation by empowering communities with the basic skills, design principles, and experience needed to build for themselves. The prototype home emphasizes ease of construction, material availability, and expansion through phases.

The size of the lot is approximately half a dunam; the area of the house is about 320 square meters. As soon as we saw the location – its proximity to the Herzliya sea – we immediately felt that the required design for the building’s envelope had to be clean and modern, while featuring facades resting on an old stone hill surrounded by water.

The House is located in a batch of 21,60 meters long, with a significant slope of 8,50 meters from the +/-0,00 to its highest point in the gully of San Isidro. This gully is testimony of the original coast and the won surface into the Río de la Plata river throughout our short history, reason for which it seemed important to us to alter it as little as possible.